Mystery Argentine Navy Colt (by Colt)

There were a couple more Navy contracts in the 30's and early 40's but still not many went down there total. Far more Army & Police guns!

Bottom line is that this is an interesting gun and in far better shape than most.

The Colt letter will probably just state the date of shipment, where it went, and how many were in the shipment, as well as type of finish. Special markings and such were very rarely recorded as far as I know, and usually that would be engraving.

As an aside, the Navy DGFM pistols (Marina de Guerra, Armada, etc) originally had the same "polished" black oxide as the Army and other guns. If there was some special cool matte black finish for the Navy I think they would have used that by then.

somd_mustangs said:

There were a couple more Navy contracts in the 30's and early 40's but still not many went down there total. Far more Army & Police guns!

Bottom line is that this is an interesting gun and in far better shape than most.

The Colt letter will probably just state the date of shipment, where it went, and how many were in the shipment, as well as type of finish. Special markings and such were very rarely recorded as far as I know, and usually that would be engraving.

As an aside, the Navy DGFM pistols (Marina de Guerra, Armada, etc) originally had the same "polished" black oxide as the Army and other guns. If there was some special cool matte black finish for the Navy I think they would have used that by then.

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And apparently some Colts went to the Argentine Navy in periodic orders before these, as well, but in very small numbers.

I've got a really nice Argentine Navy Ballester-Molina that's all original with the original finish. It's a polished black oxide. (It's so nice, in fact, that I just found an article on a gun magazine website that used a photo that I originally posted here as one of their illustrations ... and they are welcome to it.)

But I've seen a couple of different places where people have stated that the Argentine Navy parkerized most of their handguns. I don't know if that's based upon hard data, or if it's based in supposition because so many of the imported Argentine Colts and Sistemas are park'd. It's the interwebs, so there's seldom any citation given for the source of the information.

I do think, though, that this one was carried for a bit before it was exported back to the U.S., and after it was refinished, so I tend to believe that it wasn't refurb'd just for export.

My comments about "looking kewl" are based in a bit of personal knowledge. My late brother in law was an Argentine, and I know that even junior officers in the Navy had a bit of freedom to display some style and swagger ... and even more if you were a commander or captain. Even U.S. senior officers (Patton) used their sidearms to show a little individuality. I'm just saying that if a new process came out that looked especially "badass," and there was an enlisted man on the ship/base who could do that to a sidearm, it's well within the realm of possibility for officers to have their "show" guns done with that process.

Am I saying that's what was done? Nope ... just one of many possible bits of conjecture, but one of the more reasonable ones. I still haven't taken mine down yet, but from what I can see and feel, I'm not expecting to see much wear at all when I do. It's tight and stiff as a new 1911A1. A 90 year old gun that had been in the general pool of arms on a ship or naval base would show much more evidence of use than it does--and usually a whole lot more. It would seem that either this one got lost in a safe somewhere, or someone senior enough grabbed onto it and only strapped it on during occasions that merited showing off some military finery.

Sure wish this guy had on a sidearm!

Send to oldcarjunkie for many years of testing and research

Oldcarjunkie said:

Send to oldcarjunkie for many years of testing and research

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You're tooooo kind!

Machodoc said:

You're tooooo kind!

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I do what I can

If you wanna protect the gun from a idiot mark use a credit card under the slide release.

BlindViper said:

If you wanna protect the gun from a idiot mark use a credit card under the slide release.

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Good idea.

Machodoc said:

Good idea.

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I use an expired NRA membership card because appropos.

There's actually an "idiot guard" that someone makes (made?) out of thin plastic stock, it seats over the mag catch to free up your hand. It would be easy to duplicate that. But...

I use something to depress the plunger (either a paperclip with a real short hook bent into the end, or a jewelers screwdriver) and that helps tremendously
You gotta be quick, steady and sure. Takes a little practice (try it on a beater first) but if you do it right the slide stop never comes near the frame (or side of the slide).
If you're lucky the stop will pop in without any coaxing but so far I'm 0 for 100 on that one.

The paperclip is nice cause you can bend the other end to fit your fingers and there's less chance of an "oops". Maybe it's not very professional, but I get a lot of use out of paperclips...

I'm going to post a bunch of photos without many comments--I'll leave most of that for you.

I field stripped this gun carefully, but did want to go any farther than this right now so that I don't mar the finish on any pins, etc. I'm not an expert of the U.S. made Argentine Navy Colts, but everything that I've found so far looks right to me, based upon what I do know.

The barrel was blued inside and out, and the streaks that you'll see in the shot of the (uncleaned) bore are streaks in the bluing. This gun has been fired, but does not appear to me to have been fired much at all. There's very little wear showing.

I sure wish that it hadn't been refurbished! As good as the condition is, I am tending more and more to suspect that someone just wanted to have these guns with a black, no-glare, finish.

More photos ...

Still more photos ...

I left out one of the most important photos, I'm told, so I pulled it down again (getting brave with a credit card to protect the gun) and removed the slide stop to see if the slide matches the frame.

Well ..... ..... ..... in spite of the refurb job that removed the original finish and left the gun matte black, this just doesn't appear to be a mixmaster. So far, the recoil spring guide is the only part I've found that looks like it might have come out of a gun that had been used a lot more.

Woot! Woot!

BTW you can pull the firing pin stop without removing the slide

Looks good man.

somd_mustangs said:

Woot! Woot!

BTW you can pull the firing pin stop without removing the slide

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Crap ... just lock the slide back, right? I wasn't thinking about that!

This little 1911 Whodunit Mystery has been very entertaining. Nice job everyone.

Looks even better in higher res. Matching slide is the money shot. Keep all the parts as is. Don't replace anything. (Should go without saying to not shoot it. ) Congrats.

With these new pics, I withdraw my original opinion. Looks like this could be a 1925 Commerical purchase. Originally, it would have been blued...must have been parkerized when it was refinished.

I'm going to poke around a few books tomorrow and see what I can find. Will post if I find anything useful.

Thanks for sharing!